Reginald Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves was the only son of the Basil Jeeves, M.A., B.Ph., Oxford and London, and Daisy Wiggins, and therefore the grandson of the Rev. Theophilus Jeeves. He was gentlemen's gentlemen for the notorious Bertie Wooster. Early Life Reginald, alas, was left an orphan at the age of fourteen, but had a grasp of grammar and syntax that stood him in good stead for later life. A short time as a jeweller’s assistant for a Tobias Silversmith showed that his fortitude did not lie in this area, so he was attached, as a hall boy, to Mr Esmond Haddock of Deverill Hall, King’s Deverill. It is believed that it was the valet of Esmond Haddock, Stephen Upnor, that first planted the idea of becoming a gentlemen’s personal gentlemen into Jeeves’ mind. However, the relative idyll of Jeeves’ time at the hall was affected by the aunt of Haddock, Harriet. This aunt, already something of a hypochondriac, complained of a series of headaches and loss of sleep, to which the young Jeeves naively offered the ailing aunt a packet of Haddock’s Headache Hokies, not realising that Harriet disliked this mention of the source of the husband’s wealth. It was perhaps due to this, and the later liquidation of one of Esmond’s investments, that led to Jeeves being given notice. The Picklerod Academy for Young Ladies Jeeves’ next position was as page-boy in the Picklerod Academy for Young Ladies, which was run by the famous Dame Daphne Winkworth. This academy was notorious for its degenerate occupants; one had poisoned a prize pig at Blandings Castle, while another had bit Lord Flauntleroy in the leg. It was therefore quite an unnerving experience for the young page-boy. It is no surprise that he made a significant error soon after; luring him into the attic on the pretence of releasing a trapped dove, the more devilish females locked him in, and took a compromising photograph to use for blackmail purposes. However, with the assistance of the English teacher, Miss Eunice Harbottle, they were able to retake the stolen photographs. It was Miss Harbottle who undertook most of Jeeves’ education- he proved a good student, and developed a large knowledge of the classics, as well as contemporary literature. Jeeves departure from the School occurred when a new girl, the Hon. Sylvia Soleful, fell in love with the to-be butler. This was, of course, not reciprocated, but Dame Daphne Winkworth thought it prudent to send Jeeves to his next place of work. Percival Craye This was as second footman for Percival Craye, the 3rd Earl of Worplesdon, who was Chairman at the School’s Board of Governors. His house was situated at Worpley Maltravers, and he was, indeed, married to Agatha Wooster, who was the nephew of the more (in)famous Bertie Wooster. Soon after passing onto the service, he was able to act as a temporary valet for Lord Worplesdon’s younger brother, Derek. It was he who taught Jeeves the important tricks of the business, showing him how to fold and clean clothes, how to cook meals, and so forth. He then grew to replace Lord Worplesdon’s valet, Vaisey, assisting the former both on the racetrack and in his own home. The Hon. Digby "Tubby" Thistleton Jeeves later passed onto the service of the Hon. Digby “Tubby” Thistleton, the 1st Baron Bridgeworth, who introduced Jeeves to London. It was Thistleton’s father, the Duke of Hampshire, who proposed Jeeves as a member of the Junior Ganymede Club, and introduced him to the famed Drones Club. Thistleton was an amateur inventor, and created such outlandish products as Buenos Aires Mob-Dispersal Mist and Antibarb, a liquid that purported to remove hair and, in actuality, anything else up to and including policemen. After hearing that application of the latter to one head had caused the hair to grow, Thistleton hit upon a brainwave; market it as Hair-O, a hair restorer. Alas, Jeeves’ receding hairline meant that his presence did not fit well with the image Thistleton was trying to produce, and, regretfully, he was let go. The 5th Baron Brancaster Jeeves was fortunate enough to enter then into the service of Nigel Strickland Davenant Rokely Fox-Medlicott, the 5th Baron Brancaster. Brancaster was, unsurprisingly, quite an eccentric; in particular, he was an avid collector of parrots. This proved to be most distasteful to Jeeves; one parrot in particular, called Lars Porsena, swore greatly, and even bit him on the ear. No doubt the parrot in question was pining for the fjords. An attempt to drug the parrot was only partially successful- after overdosing him on alcohol, he collapsed, and was not heard from again. This, combined with Brancaster’s unusual mode of dress, meant that Jeeves was not able to stay for long. Lord Ranelagh Jeeves later became the valet of Lord Frederick Augustus Lonsdale Henley, who more often went under the name of Ranelagh. Ranelagh was, alas, a bit of a rogue; he frequently various techniques to cheat at cards, and used his resplendent schooner, the Vortex II, as a confidence trick. He and Colonel McVane, his “partner-in-crime”, would tempt wealthy holiday-goers onto the boat, and use the card games to take money off them. Jeeves was, of course, able to assist with many dangerous situations, especially when the Colonel looked to be making too many losses. However, a visit from Soapy Sid, a petty criminal who masqueraded as a vicar in order to trick money off people, meant that a serious dent was put into the coffers of Lord Frederick. Accordingly, the latter started gambling, but during one game with a Mr Montague Todd, he lost dramatically. Knowing that he was in a great deal of debt, Ranelagh agreed to stake Jeeves. Not without a little ill-feeling, Jeeves therefore found himself in the service of Mr Montague Todd. Mr Montague Todd Jeeves found Todd’s personal habits quite unbearable- which is understandable, as there are very few valets who will even consider working for a man who uses Glisteroll on his hair, Dazzlo toothpaste on his teeth, and “Seductor” Aftershave Lotion around his mouth. Had he been staying at something other than the Panamericana Hotel, this might have been acceptable, but the fact was that that was the state of affairs. His friends were also repulsive; the solicitor, a Mister Cedric Snodgrass, was a furtive, unsatisfactory figure with quite a seedy appearance. He would, undoubtedly, have resigned, had it not been for Mr Todd’s capture. His room was found empty, and a note, declaring ransom for £500,000, was found on his cushion. There was nothing to do but call for expert assistance; Todd’s brother, Sir Jasper, accordingly called for the famed Hercule Poirot to help with the case. Monsieur Poirot was staying at Antibes at the time of the abduction, and so was able to come over to help uncover the culprit. On the basis that the crime would have been very difficult to commit without a large group of people to help, and that the letter was written in a style that did not match with the supposed authors- a caste calling themselves the “Young Levellers Liberation Army”- he claimed that the crime was undertaken by a gang of highly professional gang of criminals. Adding that the chances of finding them were remote, Poirot advised that the ransom should, indeed, be paid. Sir Jasper Todd was not, however, satisfied with this. As luck would have it, another detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, was staying at the time as a guest of Graf von Sauerkraut at Port Grimaud. He was called in to look at the case, and, having interviewed two people who claimed to be the last to have seen Todd- called, respectively, Tony O’Keefe and Gus Quiggin- realised that the two’s stories did not hold up. His theory, then, was a follows: that Quiggin and O’Keefe had assisted Todd in faking his own kidnap, and the ransom money was to be used to line the pockets of the three. Wimsey told Sir Jasper Todd that Montague was in no danger whatsoever- and, despite a second threatening letter, the detective declared the case closed, and returned to his holiday. The manager of the hotel, however, a Mister Jean Delacroix, after not following the proceedings to closely, had the idea that the abductor was still at large. As a religious man, he turned to his local priest, Father Lagrange, who brought up the name of another member of the Roman Catholic clergy who was, at the time, suffering from jaundice at the Convalescent Home of the Redemption, who had a small reputation as a detective. On the basis that a puzzle of this sort would help speed the man’s recovery, the priest- whose name was Father Brown- was called in to help locate Montague Todd. Father Brown declared that, as one would hide a leaf in a forest, one would hide a holiday-maker in a hotel. As to which hotel, he reasoned that they would stay in the hotel that would be least likely to contain the abductee- the Panamericana Hotel, where Mr Todd had been staying. It was left up to Jeeves to deduce where in the hotel Todd was hiding, and he did so, by finding the patron who had the unusual combination of Glisteroll Hair Oil, Dazzlo Toothpaste, and Seductor Aftershave Lotion. For Jeeves, the upside of the Todd Kidnapping Case was that he grew quite a reputation as a man of the world- indeed, his advice was sought for matters throughout Mayfair. As well as this, he acquired the undying friendship of Lord Peter Wimsey’s batman, Mervyn Bunter. Bunter, originally a soldier in Wimsey’s battalion during the Great War, was a firm friend of the detective, and acted as his valet with great satisfaction; however, in Jeeve’s case, he recommended someone who was not as intelligent as his aristocratic master, reasoning that a man who could tell what one had been doing by the mud on ones shoes was not a man that would preserve one’s privacy. Therefore Bunter recommended someone who had no intelligence whatsoever, and yet had enough flea-brained honesty and gentlemanly qualities to pass muster in modern life. Of course, this was a very difficult description to find in real life, and, for a while, it seemed that Jeeves would be stuck like this forever. Bertram "Bertie" Wilberforce Wooster And so Jeeves came into the employ of Bertie Wooster, a well-known socialite and diarist, and was made famous thanks to Wooster's accounts of the partnership. The two became firm friends, and it seemed that Jeeves took a bit of paternal pride in his master- Wooster would often get embroiled in scandal, including several arranged marriages and at least one charge of theft. His various amours included Madeline Bassett, Florence Craye, Honoria Jane Louise Glossop, Phyllis Mills, Gwladys Pendlebury, Cora "Corky" Potter-Pirbright, Heloise Pringle, Muriel Singer, Beatrice Slingsby, Pauline Stoker, Roberta Wickham and Cynthia Wickhammersley. It was in this period that he became something of an advisor to the many young men about time that were centred around the notorious Drones Club. Retirement When Bertie's uncle, Sir George Wooster, the 8th Earl of Yaxley, died, Bertie inherited the Yaxley estate, and almost immediately took advantage of his new-found status to marry Bobbie Wickham. Happily married, they realised that they no longer needed a valet, as a gentlemen's gentlemen was something that was reserved for bachelorhood; therefore, they made Jeeves the publican of the local village's pub, the Angler's Rest. Jeeves lived out his final days there, telling the many tales of his times and his escapades; although one particular customer, a certain Mr Mulliner, seemed rather disgruntled at the newcomer, whose anecdotes were so much more eloquently narrated. Category:People Category:Pages